Thursday, January 21, 2016

Pantheism and denial of divine simplicity

Pantheism presents this metaphysical picture of the world: The world consists of two kinds of things, namely God and his proper parts. Theists who deny divine simplicity then seem to be committed to the claim that while pantheism is actually false, its metaphysical picture is possibly false. For if God isn't simple, then had God not created anything, the world would have consisted of two kinds of things: God and his proper parts.

7 comments:

Those of us who do accept divine simplicity are in the same boat, aren't we? Some pantheists (Samkara, Parmenides) are strong monists, who say there is only one thing and it has no parts. Theists who accept divine simplicity are committed to saying that this picture of the world could have been true, had God not chosen to create.

About Me

I am a philosopher at Baylor University. This blog, however, does not purport to express in any way the opinions of Baylor University. Amateur science and technology work should not be taken to be approved by Baylor University. Use all information at your own risk.